Cleaning up the Office

In the past many of us might have thought that office cleaning was necessary purely because of what clients might think of our business. We did it because of the impression we would give people and that it would like nice for us.

Studies have been done on how a clean work environment affects employees. It has been discovered that the benefits are enormous. To the extent that the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA) has now launched the Healthy Workplaces Campaign. This campaign aims to make everyone in the workplace aware and work together to create better work environments.

The benefits of this include fewer accidents, less absenteeism, increased productivity, a happier and more productive workforce, improved relationships with suppliers and partners and a better reputation with investors, customers and the community. With all of those benefits its well worth the effort to clean up your act and create a workplace you want to be in. You could even take it one step further and go green. Using eco-friendly cleaning products will be even better for your work environment.

You’ll be able to find all the office cleaning chemicals you need at Blendwell Cleaning Solutions.

For more information on the enormous range of office cleaning products that we manufacture please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Our factory is in Midrand, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical manufacturer! 

Why would you use a QAC disinfectant?

When your environment requires for you to be HACCP compliant it is important to choose the right cleaning chemicals. Only use cleaning products that are HACCP compliant otherwise you could run into serious trouble. Disinfecting surfaces in the food industry is something that needs to be done a lot and your products need to be really effective.

There are two types of disinfectants that can be used. QAC based disinfectants are disinfectants that use Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QAC) as their base. These disinfectants have no smell which is a positive thing for food safe cleaners. These cleaning products are very easy to use and can be used at a low concentration. The use of these cleaning chemicals will not cause corrosion but have a very good kill rate.

Blendwell Cleaning Solutions has a large range of cleaning products in their h-range (HACCP compliant) of cleaning products and you can get more information on Food Safe Cleaning Chemicals.

We have a factory in Midrand, South Africa and we are your local cleaning chemical manufacturer!

How to clean green with Eco-Lyte

Blendwell Cleaning Solutions has an awesome new range of green cleaning products. These eco-friendly cleaners are a necessity for cleaning any environment.

Eco-Lyte products are a brilliant new range of cleaning products that are extremely simple (they don’t contain lots of unnecessary additives), supremely effective and completely green. If you are looking for environmentally friendly cleaning products, look no further. This is where science and nature are in harmony.

Eco-Lyte products are produced via a patented process of Electro-Chemistry also known as ECA (ElectroChemical activation).  This process requires specialised machinery. The process in Eco-Lyte technology transforms small amounts of simple food grade salt and water into two highly active products known as Eco-Lyte NTL(the anolyte solution) and Eco-Lyte DG (the catholyte solution).  

For more information on the cleaning products manufactured by Blendwell Cleaning Solutions please visit www.blendwell.co.za. You will find our factory in Midrand, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical manufacturer!

3 ways to have green appliances in your home

Making the commitment to go green is not just about changing the cleaning products you use and how you use them. It’s about relooking at the things you buy and deciding what you really need.

Most appliances are marked with a scoring system for how electrically efficient they are. Choose the most efficient appliances and you may just see your electricity bill come down too.

Make sure you really need an electrical appliance before you buy it. After careful consideration you may decide it is not necessary. A tumble dryer may not be necessary if you don’t have uniforms that need to be dried in a hurry. Or if you have kids over the age of 8 they can do the washing upafter dinner each night and you may not need a dishwasher.

Sometimes you don’t need to have a large appliance and many smaller units use less electricity. If there are fewer people in your household you might opt for a washing machine that has a smaller capacity as it will use less water and electricity.

These small changes can make a huge difference to the environment. The immediate change it could make to you is lower water and electrical bills and that would certainly relieve my household budget. Every little thing we do to save our environment will add up and become a big thing. Blendwell Chemicals is working towards a greener future – join us.

Recycling at school

It’s Clean-up and Recycle Week and there are lots of community cleaning up projects all over the country. If you want to find out more, please visit http://www.cleanup-sa.co.za/cleanupdiary.htm.

Schools are often very involved with their communities. A school is the perfect place to locate recycling bins. These bins do need to be well managed so that they do not over-fill. The school may choose not to have facilities for all recyclable material but only select collecting one or two items.

The school should identify a company that can come collect the recyclable materials or alternatively find a charity organisation that will collect the recyclables who can benefit from these goods.

Educators, learners and parents must be educated and encouraged to use the recycling facilities to ensure participation. Learners should know about how the packaging of their lunch or drinks maybe recycled. They should be encouraged to use bottles and lunch boxes that are not disposable so that they create less waste.

It may be necessary for bottles, cans and boxes to be flattened if they are to be stored before they are collected.

We can all do some kind of recycling. If you haven’t yet started then pick one thing to recycle. You’ll see it’s easier than you think. At Blendwell Chemicals  we’re always looking for new ways to recycle our waste. We can all work together for a better world for our children.

Recycling at the office

Since it’s Clean Up and Recycling Week, this is the perfect time to look at how we are doing things and see if we can do them better. Find ways of recycling goods in your office is a great way to contribute. For more information on community projects, please visit http://www.cleanup-sa.co.za/cleanupdiary.htm

Each office is different but there are many different things you can do. Firstly you will need to assess your environment and see where you create recyclable waste. Many offices still use a lot of paper. Making sure that where possible the blank side of paper is also used is an easy way to recycle. You can cut up this used paper and use the clean side to write phone messages and notes. Even better, your phone messages can all be on email – taking out the need for message slips that may get lost. Instead, you may consider paper that has been printed to be taken home and used by your staff member’s children for drawing on.

The paper that does have to go through your shredder can be collected by a paper recycling company to ensure that it does not go into normal waste.

If you do not have a canteen on site, staff members should be encouraged to bring lunch in a plastic lunch box and something to drink in a glass or plastic juice bottle. If these are used every day, there will be much less of an environmental impact than new plastic or paper bags and cans or new bottles being used each day.

All staff members will need to be informed of your recycling efforts and bins for different items must be easy to access for the system to work.

Identify a company that will be able to collect your recyclable items if you do not have facilities nearby to drop off.

There are many creative ways to recycle things in your office. You just have to look at your office and  work out what can be re-used or recycled. Find a way to do your part in Clean-up and Recycle Week! Blendwell Chemicals is looking for ways to improve too.

Photo courtesy of Sanja Gjenero for RGB Stock.

Recycling Day - What you can do at home

On Friday the 20^th of September it will be Recycling Day. This initiative is part of Clean-up and Recycle week which runs for the whole of this week. There are community clean-ups arranged around the country for individuals to participate in making public spaces cleaner. If you would like to know about events that have been organised by Clean-up SA please visit http://www.cleanup-sa.co.za/cleanupdiary.htm

Not all of us are going to be able to be part of events like this one but we can all still do our bit. We can start recycling at home, at work and helping arrange recycling schemes at local schools.

For your own recycling at home, you should start to separate the things you throw away. There will be wet waste mostly from food stuffs and dry recyclable materials. Some of your wet waste like fruit and vegetable waste can be used in your compost heap.

Find out about recycling schemes in your area. Some suburbs have separate rubbish trucks that collect different materials – one for paper and one for glass, plastic, tin, polystyrene, etc. You may need to find a shop or school in your area that has recycling bins for you to drop your goods into.

Create separate bins or boxes to store your recyclable goods until you can dispose of them. If you can, try to colour-code your bins if you have small children. Or you can put labels on the bins if your family is older. Teach everyone in your household about what items go in which bin and what state items should be in if they are to be put in these bins. Bottles, tins and jars should be cleaned out before placing them in the recycling bin – there should not be chunks of food attached. Once your family is in the habit of sorting it’s really easy. A huge advantage of doing this is that you dramatically reduce the amount of waste that would go into your big black wheelie bin. During the last rubbish collector’s strike we only filled our big wheelie bin after 4 weeks. We’re a large family and most of throw away goods are recycled so we were barely affected by the strike.

Here’s a picture of my indoor recycling bins. I find this system works really well for my household.

I’ll be looking at other places to start recycling so check back tomorrow.

2 products for cleaning stainless steel factory floors

Stainless steel factory floors can be tough to clean. There is bound to be a certain amount of grease and grime on these floors so you’ll need some powerful cleaners. This does not mean that you can only use traditional cleaners. There are some green cleaning products that can do the job without harming the environment.

• Enviro Maxi 

Blendwell Chemicals has an eco-friendly cleaning product from the EnviroBlend range of cleaners called Enviro Maxi. This is an industrial strength cleaner that can make tough cleaning jobs really simple. Enviro Maxi is made with raw material that are safe and from renewable sources.

• Eco-Lyte DG 

You can also get the Eco-Lyte range of eco-friendly cleaning products from Blendwell Chemicals. Eco-Lyte DG will easily clean your stainless steel factory floor. Eco-Lyte cleaning products are made from salt and water that has been passed through a specialised electrical process. These cleaning products have no impact on the environment but are extremely powerful.

For more information on Blendwell Chemicals cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures all their cleaning products in Midrand, South Africa and are your best local cleaning products wholesaler. 

What are the 4 hazards in a food factory?

In any environment where food is grown, produced, prepared or packaged, the HACCP system should be in place. HACCP is an acronym for the hazard analysis critical control point. This system analyses all contact points and their surroundings to ensure food remains safe.

There are four main types of hazards:

1. Biological and microbiological hazards. These would include all foodborne diseases like E. coli.
2. Physical hazards. These hazards will include things that can cause physical harm to the person eating the food by perhaps cutting their mouth, burning them or breaking their teeth. These things could be glass, nails, even jewellery that accidently falls into the food due to carelessness.
3. Chemical hazards. These hazards will occur when residues of pesticides or cleaning chemicals contaminate the food. Or if the food comes into contact with poisons. This can cause food poisoning and chronic illness.
4. Allergenic hazards. Some people are highly allergic to things like shellfish, peanuts, milk,soy, sesame seeds or gluten. If exposed to these foods they can experience anaphylactic shock. They do not always have to eat one of the foods that they are allergic to but the food could be exposed to the food they are allergic to and becomes contaminated.

You need to know what the hazards are in order to be able to avoid them. HACCP is a fantastic system to use if you handle food. For more information on cleaning products that are HACCP compliant please visit www.blendwell.co.za/Food_Industry_Cleaning_Products. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures cleaning products for the food industry in Midrand, South Africa.

When it's his turn to do the dishes...

If the man of your household is anything like my awesome husband, it’s been so long since he last did the dishes that he can’t possibly remember how to do them. However, the excuse of doing it badly just so I won’t ask him to do it again, is not going to work. So next time it’s his turn to wash the dishes I’ve got some tips for him to wash them in an eco-friendly way.

Firstly, use hot water. This will help to cut through the grease. You will also wash your dishes more effectively, if you run a sink full of hot water and dish washing liquid. This sink should have enough water in it that the dishes can be fully submerged. Be sure to not use too much dishwashing liquid as this will hamper the cleaning process. Then fill a second sink or a tub with more hot water for rinsing.

You should always use the greenest cleaning product that you can find. Most eco-friendly cleaning products are developed not only to be easy on the environment but also easy on the people who use them. They are usually not as harsh on the skin as traditional cleaners. Make sure that your dishwashing liquid only contains plant-based surfactants. All of the dishwashing liquids made by Blendwell Chemicals only contain plant-based surfactants. You can also add vinegar to the sink that you rinse in as this will help break down the soap.

Allowing your dishes to air dry is also the most eco-friendly and safe way to dry them. When drying with a dish towel, if there are any bacteria or germs on the dish towel, these will be spread to all the dishes.

 For more information on dish washing liquids available from Blendwell Chemicals please visit http://www.blendwell.co.za/Kitchen_And_Bathroom_Cleaning_Products. Blendwell Chemicals is a wholesaler and manufacturer of a huge range of cleaning products. We manufacture our cleaning products at our factory in Halfway House, South Africa. We are your best local cleaning chemical wholesaler.

Why do we clean?

There are many reasons to clean and we can all benefit enormously by living and working in a clean environment. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures cleaning chemicals for all home and work places. Out wide variety of cleaning products makes it possible to find almost every type of cleaner that you need at our factory.

Firstly, we clean for hygiene. Simple enough, we clean to keep things clean so that the spread of germs is minimised. Food being prepared in a dirty kitchen can make people sick very quickly. We also clean for safety. If something has been spilt on a floor and not wiped up, it is likely that someone will slip and hurt themselves.

Thirdly, we clean to maintain the longevity of our surroundings. A place that is never cleaned is likely to decay faster as certain surfaces can rot and disintegrate if not cared for. We also clean to make things look nice – for aesthetics. A dirty space will never look that good and cleaning makes all the difference.

Lastly, we clean for health. Studies have been done on people who live and work in dirty environments and compared to people who live and work in clean environments. The people who are exposed to clean environments are less likely to be absent from work, they need to see the doctor less and are more likely to be healthier.

Cleaning is a necessary part of our lives and Blendwell Chemicals can be your partner in cleaning. Our factory is in Midrand, South Africa and we are your best local cleaning chemical wholesaler. Please visit www.blendwell.co.za for more information.

HACCP and cleaning chemicals

Environments where food is picked, prepared or processed need to conform to HACCP practices. HACCP is the hazard analysis critical control point system that checks every stage of food handling to ensure food safety. Any placed where food and food products are handled need to follow HACCP procedures. HACCP analyses the entire process required to make the food and is designed to ensure that the highest hygiene standards are maintained through all processes.

What is the role of cleaning chemicals in a HACCP system?

Cleaning chemicals are, most obviously necessary for cleaning. This cleaning should occur on all surfaces and utensils that come into direct contact with the food products. There are also times when the food itself will also require cleaning.

Cleaning chemicals are also used to maintain hygiene in all parts of the environment that may affect the food. For example, the truck that transports the food in clean containers must also be clean. Even if the containers are sealed, there is still the chance that when opening the containers, dirt and germs are transferred to the food.

Cleaning chemicals will also help the people who come into contact with the food, maintain the highest levels of hygiene. Without this, the food will be at risk.

Call Blendwell Chemicals today for all your HACCP cleaning chemicals or you can visit their website at www.blendwell.co.za/Food_Industry_cleaning_Products.  Blendwell Chemicals manufactures all their cleaning products in their factory in Midrand, South Africa. We are your best cleaning chemicals wholesaler.

How can I HACCP clean my factory floors?

If you have a food factory and you need cleaning chemicals to clean your floors, then Blendwell Chemicals has just the product for you. Food factories and industrial kitchens need to comply with HACCP standards of cleaning. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a range of cleaning products that are HACCP compliant. The H-range of cleaning products cover all your cleaning needs in the HACCP environment.

For cleaning floors I would recommend Alkali H. This cleaning chemical is a heavy duty cleaner and is highly concentrated. It contains caustic and is brilliant at cutting fats and proteins as well as dealing with stains.

For more information on cleaning products for a HACCP environment please visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za/Food_Industry_Cleaning_Products. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a huge range of cleaning products at their factory in Johannesburg, South Africa. We are the best local cleaning chemical wholesaler. 

Safe Cleaning - some other things to know

Fast, effective and easy cleaning is something we all want to achieve. Cleaning should not get in the way of living and working. Following some rules of safety is imperative to achieve this goal.

How you store your cleaning products can affect how safe the people in your environment are. Cleaning products should always be kept away from children and pets and any persons who may not know how to handle them. Ideally they should be kept in a locked cupboard where there is limited access to the key. Depending on your environment, you may want to keep them on a shelf out of reach. When the cleaning products are being used make sure that nothing is left in a walkway or thoroughfare. In an office or factory environment, make sure that the place the cleaning products are stored is not in a place where they could be accidently bumped over.

To keep cleaning safely, it is important to rinse out cleaning cloths, sponges, mop heads, etc after use. It will be necessary to dry them out fully as often as possible. This will help prevent bacteria and mildew from growing.

For more information on cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a huge range of cleaning chemicals for use in all kinds of industries which we sell wholesale to resellers and contract cleaners. Happy, safe cleaning!

Safe Cleaning - what you need to know

Cleaning is something everyone has to do at some point. In certain environments, cleaning may be necessary several times a day. In other spaces, a once a week clean may be all that’s necessary. The environment, who uses that space and what is done in the environment, will dictate how and how often it is cleaned.

Always wear safety gear when you are cleaning. If you are using eco-friendly products it is still recommended that you use safety gear. A pair of gloves is a must, especially if you have sensitive skin. If the cleaning product you are using splashes on your skin you must always rinse off immediately with running water. By wearing gloves you will reduce that risk. If you are diluting chemicals or pouring them into other containers, you should also use safety eye wear to prevent any chemicals splashing into your eyes. The membranes in the eyes are extremely delicate and easily damaged. Please read the instructions that should come with your product as you may need to use other equipment like an oxygen mask, dust mask, chemical resistant overalls or chemical resistant shoes. These safety instructions should come with all cleaning products you purchase and if you don’t have them get in touch with your supplier to provide them so that you can avoid any unnecessary accidents.

Never mix different cleaning products. Remember in science class when you tried to mix things to create mini (or not so mini) explosions. By mixing cleaning products you may get the same result by mistake. Always follow the manufacturer’s directions on how to dilute their cleaning products. This will make your cleaning more effective and save time and money. In the case of diluting cleaning products –more cleaning product does not always give you better cleaning.

For more information on cleaning and cleaning products, please visit Blendwell Chemicals website at www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals has a factory in Halfway House, South Africa and we are your best local cleaning chemical wholesaler.  

Do you have the right stuff?

When it comes to cleaning having the right things to clean with will make the world of difference. Trying to clean a kitchen floor with a small cloth is going to take a huge amount of time and energy. I’m all for cleaning as fast as possible and using the least amount of energy possible. This is not because I’m lazy, it’s because, like most people, I have a gazillion other things to do and cleaning is not something I particularly love doing. Though, I do love having a clean environment to live and work in.   

It’s a good idea to have several different cleaning cloths. Microfibre cloths are really nice to clean with because they don’t leave any little fluffy bits of cloth behind when you wipe a surface like most other cloths. I like to have different coloured cloths for different areas. The cloth that cleans your kitchen countertop should never clean the toilet or the floor. When you buy cleaning cloths for your home or office, buy an assortment of colours and if lots of different people are likely to use these cleaning cloths, then it might be a good idea to make a chart so that everyone is aware of which colour cloths are for which cleaning job. This way your cleaning cloths will not cross-contaminate with germs or bacteria found in other spaces.

Blendwell Chemicals now stocks cleaning accessories such as microfiber cleaning cloths in a variety of colours. Blendwell Chemicals is in Midrand, South Africa and we are your best local cleaning wholesaler.

The Rules of Cleaning - 9-11

The Rules of Cleaning are really simple to follow and they will make cleaning go easier, faster and be safer.

9. Begin with dry

With any area that you are cleaning, it’s a good idea to start with the ‘dry’ cleaning first. Do all the dusting, sweeping and vacuuming first. Then move on to the wet jobs. This way there will be less dirt to try clean up with your wet methods. It will all go much faster.

10. Take it easy

There are a great deal of electronics in our homes and offices these days and cleaning around these items does require care. Obviously, you don’t want things to be getting wet but they will need to be wiped down. It’s best to spray your cleaning cloths with your cleaning product first and then wipe down. This will also apply to photo frames and artwork.

11. You can take it with you

If it is your home or your office being cleaned, having a complete set of cleaning supplies for each person will make the cleaning go faster. This set of cleaning supplies should be easy for someone to carry around with them. This way each person can get on with the jobs they have to do and not be walking around looking for the right cleaning product or equipment. Depending on the environment being cleaned, you may be required to have separate cleaning equipment for each area (like the food industry is required to have).

For more information on cleaning and cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a huge range of cleaning products at their factory in Midrand, South Africa. Blendwell is your best local choice for wholesale cleaning chemicals.  

The Rules of Cleaning - 5+6

I have some more of those fabulous rules for cleaning for you today. Some of them may seem like common sense to some of you but you’ll be amazed by how not considering just one of these points can cause a lot of hassle for you and your staff. Having a clean, safe and hygienic place of work really does make a huge difference to morale.

5.  Start soft

When cleaning it is a good idea to start with the softest and gentlest approach first. Use the softest cleaning equipment with the least harmful and well diluted cleaning product as your starting point if you are unsure of how to clean. Use more aggressive techniques and cleaning chemicals only if you have to. Cleaning equipment like steel wool can seriously damage surfaces so you wouldn’t want to start off with it. Harsh cleaning chemicals can also cause damage to the item being cleaned as well as being more likely to cause damage to the environment. Start soft and gentle, you can always be more aggressive later.

6.   Time is on your side

One of the things that make cleaning products work better is contact time. So let your cleaning products do the work for you. Spray or wipe the cleaning product onto the item being cleaned and leave it for a couple of minutes to activate. Don’t leave it too long or it might dry out. When you come back to wipe it off chances are that you will only need to wipe it away rather than scrub at it.

For more information on cleaning and cleaning products please visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za. We manufacture a huge range of cleaning products at our factory in Midrand, South Africa. We are your best local cleaning products wholesaler.

The rules of cleaning

Cleaning needn’t be a horrible chore. Regardless of what you are cleaning – whether it is your home, office, factory, shop or workshop – the same rules apply. If you follow the basic rules of cleaning it will go faster and you’ll get better results. Being prepared and using the right cleaning products in the right way will save you time, money and avoid damage to yourself, the item being cleaned and even the environment.

The rules:

1.  Use the correct cleaning product for the job at hand.

This can save you hours of work. It is worth investing in the correct cleaning products for each of the things that you clean. Trying to clean a well-used fry top with dishwashing liquid is never going to give you great results no matter how concentrated the dishwashing liquid is. It simply does not have enough degreasing power to cut through the fats and grease and burnt on carbon. Using the correct products will leave you with a hygienic work environment. There have been studies that prove that work environments that are clean have better attendance and performance from employees. Now isn’t that a good reason to clean up your act?

2. Use the cleaning product the correct way

Using the cleaning product correctly will mean that you will need to use the correct equipment for the item you need to clean and dilute the cleaning product correctly. Read the instructions of your cleaning product. Some items can be easily damaged and this can cost an enormous amount of money to replace. For example, don’t use a scouring pad to clean a plastic container or a traditional mop to clean laminate floors. By not diluting the cleaning product correctly you will also waste the cleaning product. By not diluting enough, the cleaning product will be stronger than it needs to be and can cause damage to the item as well as putting extra pressure on the environment when it is thrown out. By diluting too much, the cleaning product may be ineffective.

For more information on cleaning and fantastic cleaning products, please visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Cleaning Solutions manufactures an amazing range of cleaning products in Midrand, South Africa. We are the best local cleaning products wholesaler.

Are there any green cleaning products for my industrial dishwasher?

Blendwell Cleaning Solutions has a fantastic option for you to keep your dishes sparkly clean. The Delphis Eco range of green cleaning products has cleaners that were designed specifically for industrial dish washing machines. The Delphis Eco range of cleaning chemicals is an amazing group of products. They are all designed to do no harm to the environment or to the people who use them without sacrificing how effective they are.

Delphis Eco’s Dishwashing Liquid is a highly concentrated dishwashing detergent that is very effective at cutting through grease, grime, starches, tannins, fats, dried on foods and stains on many surfaces such as dishes, cutlery, glass and cooking utensils. Delphis Eco has also created Dishwasher Rinse Aid to work alongside the dishwashing product. This cleaning product will give you sparkly results on your glasses, dishes and cutlery leaving no spots or streaks. It has a water repelling formula and is low foaming and is a neutral rinse additive.

For more information on the Delphis Eco range of green cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Cleaning Solutions is the best local manufacturer of cleaning products in the Midrand area. We manufacture the Delphis Eco range of eco-friendly cleaning products under license to the UK.